Canzano and Wilner podcast

[UtesRule]

Give it a listen. They provide some good insight.
Canzano and Wilner pod on status of PAC

[//r00t4Utes]

Thanks for the link. It was a good level headed listen.

I don’t know how to react to responses that aren’t that the sky is falling, everything is on fire and knocking down all the kids and women holding babies on your way out the door trying to save yourself.

[UteThunder]

Pretty much just rehashing what we all already know. No real inside information. No great insights. Suggesting the Pac will survive and should expand with some schools like SMU, SDSU, UNLV, Rice, Colorado State and Gonzaga? I mean, I guess that’s where the Pac is at, but do any of those schools really save this conference?

The one possibly valuable tidbit: At the end that one of them is hearing from media industry folks that there is a deal out there for the Pac that would be equal to, or better than, the BigXII’s. I’m having a hard time believing that though.

Overall, they left me having even less faith in Kliavkoff and more convinced that Utah needs to be pressing to get into the BigXII.

 

[RedRocks]

I want to believe that there is a good deal out there for the conference and that the remainder of the Pac-12 will stay together. However, if that was the case, why would Colorado leave? Something seems off. Hopefully the UofU leadership knows something we don’t.

[Xanthis]

Colorado never fit in the PAC and Deion wanted to be affiliated with teams in Texas. Right now CU is being driven by an egomaniac who won’t be there for 5 years. It could work out for them, but it might just be more of the same they had in the PAC.

Its funny how everyone is supposed to believe the Big 12 grabbing BYU, Cincy, UCF, and Houston makes them super relevant, but if the PAC grabs SMU, SDSU and now another school they are just grasping at straws. The Big 12 money spent on the disinformation campaign has paid off and the PAC should cut the high and mighty nonsense. They needed the TV deal done months ago. 

[//r00t4Utes]

Also, to add to that, the main reason Colorado left, and for that matter Nebraska left, was they were tired of Texas throwing their weight around and trying to “bully” their way into getting what they want. Texas is now gone.

What was true in the start of this, is still true, Washington and Oregon are the biggest markets and name brands in either conference. So, IMO, until the B1G comes calling for them, the PAC can be fine, providing the XII negative media campaign doesn’t cause a panic.

I also think an argument can be made, in just prestige and a known national name Stanford has more name brand recognition than any XII school.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Deion doesn’t call the shots at the University of Colorado.  So what Deion wants is irrelevant.

As for myself, I don’t know what to think here.  If the reports are true that the Pac-12 is likely going to get a better deal — or even a similar deal — why would CU want to leave?  Their alumni base is more centered in CA than TX, and it’s not like Pac-12 teams have a hard time recruiting in TX anyway.  There’s a lot more “talent” available in that state than there are “P5 schools” that can take all of them.  And even with the move to the Big 12, CU will still be in Boulder, so it’s not like TX recruits’ families will be able to watch them play any better than if they were in the Pac-12.  And why would CU make the move prior to seeing what the Pac-12 has to offer?  It’s not like there’s a ticking clock wherein if they don’t move now, it’ll be too late.  They had until 2024 to opt in.  We all do.  And we would have had better negotiating power if the 4 corner schools opted to move in a bloc.  As in, we could have stipulated a favorable minimum linear television deal.

If the reports are nothing more than a smokescreen initiated by Kliavkoff to keep his job, or to avoid admitting he’s incompetent, why is CU the only one calling his bluff?  It’s been a year now.  Had nothing been presented to the university presidents and chancellors?  And if so, why aren’t they holding his feet to the fire?

Lots of UteHubbers here seem to not care too much about losing CU, but they were a team I really wanted to keep.  I couldn’t have cared less if teams like Arizona, Wazzu, or Ore St leave, but the rest of the Pac-12 were the ones I wanted to remained aligned with.

[CityCreekUte]

Losing Wazzu or OSU not so much. But Arizona is a blue chip in basketball. That’s worth a lot more than Colorado.

[Utah]

Colorado is desperate for money. So they took the safe bet. As did the Big 12. Both entities knew they had very little to offer and jumped at the guaranteed money. 

Now, the PAC is unlucky that the money is drying up. They are unlucky that COVID hit. They are unlucky for a bunch of different reasons. Maybe they can’t get Big 12 money anymore and teams bail to the Big 12. 

BUT IF the P12 gets equal or better money, the B12 will be irrelevant. They will have no redeemable trait. Their brands suck. They are a G5 conference with Colorado as their most prestigious school. Or TCU. Lol. 

Good luck with that. 

[EagleMountainUte]

I don’t want to put everything on this Big12 campaign to undercut the P12. It is clear USC is the original snake.  They did many many things to just undermine the P12 from the beginning. They haven’t been really relevant at all for this whole time. They can’t easily blame it on the P12.  

P12 should have had a deal long before then. Clearly Larry Scott and some missteps caused the demise of the P12. Big 12 just came in to raid the decay. 

[Utah]

YES! USC required the stipulation to play all Cali teams, resulting in a 9 game conference schedule (more conference losses = lower prestige), a harder schedule for USC = more losses for USC. USC stopped expansion earlier. USC sucked. Not once did they make the playoffs. Not once did they do anything to help the conference. The P12 failure was 90% on USC. Had USC been reasonable at any step of the way, things would be different. 

But they get to take their ball and run off to the B1G to be the fourth best football program. Good luck with that. 

America: where the rich get richer and everyone else pays the price. 

The good news is, we need USC to suck, want to leave the B1G so we can join their new conference in 2030. That would be best case scenario for Utah.